


if you're willing to open your heart

by imaginarypasta



Series: as there is life [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22015006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarypasta/pseuds/imaginarypasta
Summary: Dash checks up on Phantom a few weeks after their heart-to-heart.
Relationships: Dash Baxter & Danny Fenton
Series: as there is life [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581622
Comments: 3
Kudos: 180





	if you're willing to open your heart

**Author's Note:**

> this takes place a few weeks after the end of "as there is life there is danger."

“Phantom!” a voice called from behind him, cutting through the hollers of the crowd he floated away from.

They had that nervous chatter they always did after a ghost fight, moments from death until he’d stepped in and saved them. In a way, they knew he was helping them, but he still felt invisible. And maybe it was just the fact that he was a ghost, dangerous and frightening despite the many times he’d helped them out, but they never seemed to notice him leaving.

He turned toward the noise; a figure was waving at him in the crowd. Dash. He beckoned Danny over to him, so he nodded his head towards an alley, away from the crowd.

It took a minute for Dash to push passed the throngs of people and find him in the alley, hovering a few feet off the ground. He used to be so much taller than Danny, but they’d more or less evened out in height. Now, Danny towered above him when he hovered like this, so he lowered a bit to meet his eyes, crossing his legs in the air.

“You were amazing today,” Dash said, beaming.

“Thanks, Dash.”

“I wanted to ask... um...” He looked sheepishly at the ground, trying to rub a hole into the cement with the toe of his sneaker. “About the other night. When you were at my house.”

Danny nodded. “Sure, what’s up?” Dash had never told anyone about his visit, as far as he knew. He appreciated the privacy. It probably would’ve killed his parents to learn he’d gone to the home of “that kid he hated in middle school” rather than stay with them. Then again, it’s not like it was really all that intentional. They’d tried to be more understanding as of late; there was always the possibility they’d try to understand this.

“Um… are you doing any better?”

He raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m fine.”

“You just looked... out of it.”

“I was.”

“So you guys worked it out, then?” he asked hopefully. Danny’s face fell. Sure, his parents had been accepting. They still were. But things had been so awkward with them. They weren’t quite sure how to act. Neither, he supposed, did he. All their conversations had been so stunted, worried, dry. It made him antsy just thinking about it. 

“We’re working on it,” he sighed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” he said, but did anyway, because the truth was that he did want to and it was easier to talk to a stranger than, say, his sister. Well, someone distant enough to be counted as one. “My parents have always been kinda bullheaded.”

Dash’s eyebrow quirked up. “Your parents?”

“What? A ghost can’t have a family?” he chuckled.

“I guess I just never imagined it.”

Danny nodded. Back before the accident, he supposed he didn’t either. “Sure, sure,” he said without thinking. He rolled his head back to look at the sky. It was covered in a hazy dusk; his parents would want him home soon.

“What did you tell them?”

“Oh, just that I died.”

His eyebrows returned to their normal place for a moment before drawing deeply down. “Maybe this is a dumb question. But you’re on the news kinda a lot and like... wouldn’t they recognize you?”

He snorted. “You’d think. I guess I look a lot different like this than when I was alive.”

“To be fair, I’ve never met a teenager with white hair.”

“Or one that can fly, I’ll bet?” he chuckled, and so did Dash. 

“How…” Dash sighed and stared at the ground. Danny was patient as he waited for him to gather his thoughts; he’d had to do that so much in the last few days, he’d become accustomed to it. Sometimes he’d need to supply gentle prompts to continue, but this didn’t seem like one of those times. “How’d they not know that you died? I mean, it’s been at least…” He counted on his fingers. “Three years? Give or take.” 

He realized his mistake and tried to shake it off with a laugh. “Guess they just had a lot on their plate.”

He’d hoped for a laugh, but got a look of sympathy in return. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize they were, like, shitty.”

“They’re not,” Danny said quickly. It was loud enough to make Dash snap his head up to look at him. “They’re good people, I swear. Just can’t see past their own noses a lot of the time.” Dash didn’t believe him, it was clear. And Danny has spent so much of the last half of the week defending them, he was sure it all seemed a bit disingenuous now, being repeated so often and whatnot. Deep down, he wasn’t sure how much he believed it anymore.

But he didn’t want to start an argument, Danny could tell, so he just said, “Still. I’m sorry.” A long pause passed between them. “Is there anything I can help you with? Maybe I could talk to them?”

Danny smiled, “What? And reveal my secret identity?” Dash laughed at that. “Anyway, I should be going now.”

“Right,” Dash said, stepping back a foot. “See you around, Phantom.”

Danny winked and dissolved into the air. 


End file.
